Whois & Analysis for nrel.gov

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located in Golden, Colorado, is the United States' primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility, and is funded through the United States Department of Energy (DOE).

This arrangement allows a private entity to operate the lab on behalf of the federal government under a prime contract.

NREL receives funding from Congress to be applied toward research and development projects.

NREL also performs research on photovoltaics (PV) under the National Center for Photovoltaics.

NREL has a number of PV research capabilities including research and development, testing, and deployment.

NREL's campus houses several facilities dedicated to PV research.

Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services.

For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature.

Installing fluorescent lights, LED lights or natural skylights reduces the amount of energy required to attain the same level of illumination compared with using traditional incandescent light bulbs.

Improvements in energy efficiency are generally achieved by adopting a more efficient technology or production process or by application of commonly accepted methods to reduce energy losses.

Research and development (R&D or R+D), also known in Europe as research and technical (or technological) development (RTD), is a general term for activities in connection with corporate or governmental innovation.

Research and development is situated at the front end of the innovation life cycle, which may end with commercialization.

Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years.

First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat.

Second-generation technologies are market-ready and are being deployed at the present time; they include solar heating, photovoltaics, wind power, solar thermal power stations, and modern forms of bioenergy.

Third-generation technologies require continued R&D efforts in order to make large contributions on a global scale and include advanced biomass gasification, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy.

As of 2012, renewable energy accounts for about half of new nameplate electrical capacity installed and costs are continuing to fall.

Technology ("science of craft", from Greek, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and) is the collection of techniques, skills, s and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.

Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, or it can be embedded in machines which can be operated without detailed knowledge of their workings.